I can hardly believe its autumn already since in this little blessed, Ocean facing corner of the world summer is still going strong, I mean grabbing your towel and head to the beach is not at all a mirage. Neve the less a trip to the market, a gaze at the sycamore leaves and a much shier light greeting us in the morning clearly shows that Autumn is slowly letting itself in.

Even though I am undoubtedly a warm weather, summer person, I must confess that autumn has been gaining a spot in my heart with its golden hue, its swirling leaves, the juicy white grapes of late September, the first pomegranates, the persimmons and the abundance of squash and pumpkins. As I’ve said before, and probably will repeat again, there are gifts and magic in every season and in every day, may we have eyes to see them.

In this week’s recipe I really wanted to celebrate ingredients that to me just make sense in this season and, of course, the squash had to be there! Another ingredient that reminds me of autumn is mushrooms, there’s something about these little treasures that takes me back to earthly tones and forest glimpsing with the morning dew. With that in mind I set myself to come up with a recipe that brought those two together and ended up with an idea for a lasagna slightly different from usual. Different because it’s vegan with a cashew béchamel sauce to dye for (or at least to eat a spoonful before using it on the recipe…); with a protein packed ragu of mushrooms and lentils with red wine and bay there is delicious; and finally the amazing sweet roasted squash. The umami (read here if the concept is new to you) of the mushrooms with the sweetness of the squash and the creaminess of the cashew béchamel oh boy you are in for a treat!

This clearly is not a recipe that gets done in 5 minutes but it can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days so feel free to make more than what you need because it reheats really well. Simply serve with a green salad and you are good to go. The recipe doesn’t require any special technique unless you want to make your own pasta. You can use store bought fresh pasta or dry if you precook it.

See you next week and may autumn bring you joy!

Ingredients

(4-6 people)

8 sheets of fresh or precooked lasagna

For the cashew béchamel:

1 cup cashews (soaked for at least 4 hours or overnight)

1 cup water

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 good pinch of sea salt

1 pinch of black pepper

1 pinch freshly shaved nutmeg

For the squash layer:

1 small butternut squash (approximately 700gr whole)

5 sprigs of thyme (dry or fresh)

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of black pepper

1 drizzle of olive oil

6 cloves of garlic with skins on

For the mushroom lentil ragu:

1 cup cooked green lentils (under ½ cup uncooked)

300 gr brown mushrooms

½ cup red wine

3 bay leaves

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of pepper

1 small onion

1 drizzle of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180º. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and slice it. In an oven tray lay the butternut squash slices and all other ingredients for that layer. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Once the squash is baked remove from the oven and with the help of a tea spoon squeeze the garlic pulp from the skins, discard the skins along with the thyme sprigs. With a fork slightly mash the squash and garlic.

Meanwhile prepare the cashew béchamel sauce. Rinse the cashews and add them to a blender along with all other ingredients. Blend until smooth, check the seasoning at this point and adjust if needed.

For the mushroom lentil ragu start by cleaning and chopping the mushrooms into small pieces (check the photo). In a pan gently fry the chopped onion in the olive oil along with the bay, a pinch of salt and pepper. When the onion is translucent add the mushrooms and fry for 5 minutes. Add the lentils and wine and let it simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Cover with the lid and cook for 15 more minute. Check the seasoning.

To assemble the lasagna start by adding the mushroom lentil ragu to an oven tray, followed by lasagna sheets, under half of the cashew béchamel sauce, the squash, one more layer of lasagna sheets and finally the remaining béchamel. You can lay some fresh basil leaves on top if you will. Bake for 25 minutes.